Beginning's End
by Kerowyn
Summary: Short and sad. What would Mulder do without Scully?


This is set around season 6. Pre-baby episodes. Reviews and suggestions welcome! All flames will be used to toast marshmallows.  
  
Disclaimer: Mulder and Scully and all related material belong to their respective owners. I claim only my humble little plot line.  
  
Beginning's End  
  
The sharp, insistent ringing of a cell phone woke Special Agent Dana Scully from a dream. She lay there for a moment, trying to remember what exactly the dream was about. A second ring shattered any hopes of that and she rolled over to answer the phone.  
"Scully."  
"Hey I didn't wake you did I?"  
Scully was too tired to be very polite. "No, of course not Mulder, it's only the middle of the night."  
"It's 6 a.m." Scully opened her eyes just long enough to take in the sunlight streaming through her window.  
"It's Saturday. Believe it or not I have stuff to do."  
"Looks like it's been canceled. Skinner was here all night too and we just got a report about strange lights and occurrences over the Florida Keys. Our plane leaves at noon."  
"I'm not in the mood to go saucer chasing."  
"Don't worry, this is the most unsubstantiated sighting I've ever seen, and that's saying something. But hey, free trip to Florida." Scully grinned in spite of herself. The first few months at the Bureau she had wished for a normal partner. Now Mulder's lack of respect for authority was refreshing and endearing.  
"All right. I'll go. It's not a bad way to spend a weekend."  
"Don't forget to pack you swimsuit."  
She hit the end button, and rolled over to put the phone back on the nightstand. "I'll just sleep in another hour or so then get ready, the flight doesn't leave till noon." She thought as she dozed off again.  
***************************  
He had grown used to dark places over the years. It was part of his job description, which included just about everything. Right now it was waiting for an assassin in a black luxury car parked in a shadowy alley. The elderly man lit another cigarette and settled in for a long wait. These things couldn't be rushed. He did regret that his employers had decided to eliminate these two individuals. But it wasn't personal, it was business. He of all people knew that.  
The sun was just rising over the horizon, but you couldn't see it in the city. It was more of a gradual brightening. He shifted in his seat, his body wasn't as tolerant of staying up all night as it had been. He was getting those little aches and pains that reminded him he was not immortal. It was an annoyance but nothing more. You didn't last long in this profession without learning to accept the things you couldn't change.  
A glance at his watch told him that it was almost time to be going. He placed the butt of the cigarette in the ashtray along with five others that he had smoked in the course of the night and prepared to start the car.  
***************************  
Mulder sat in his office gathering some files and preparing to leave to meet Scully at the airport. He stuffed the files into a manila folder and grabbed his coat as he headed for the door. Opening the door, he nearly ran into A.D. Skinner who was standing right outside the door. It looked as if he had been standing there for more than a few minutes  
"Have a seat Mulder." He said, not looking all that happy. Of course he never looked happy, and was even less so when he had to come down to the basement, which usually meant bad news for Mulder. Being the loose cannon at the Bureau did have a downside.   
  
Mulder went back to his desk and sat down waiting to hear what he had done this time. "It's about Scully. Her landlord called the police when he found her door wide open about 10 a.m. I'm sorry Mulder." Mulder got up quickly and turned his back on Skinner, who kept talking. "There were some items missing from her apartment, t.v, stereo, so the D.C. police are treating it as a botched robbery."  
"Damn it, you know that's not what it was! It's Them, They have ample reason to want to get rid of us." He grabbed his coat and pushed past Skinner. He had to see her, he had to make sure.  
"And you have no way of proving it. These men are the best at covering their tracks. The best you could do is get the son of a bitch that pulled the trigger, nothing more."  
  
***************************  
Ten hours later, Mulder admitted that Skinner was right. There was no legal way he could prove that They had killed Scully. Ballistics had told him that the bullet had been fired out of an unknown gun. The guy at Ballistics didn't say anything else, but it was clear that he thought it was Scully's gun that had been used. Since it was one of the the items missing from her apartment that supported the robbery theory.  
Every agent in the Bureau was determined to find the "robbers", which was one of the reasons that he had the Ballistics report an hour after he had heard the news. Police efficiency could be amazing sometimes.  
He had called Mrs. Scully sometime that afternoon. It was always the worst part of the job, having to tell someone that their precious immortal child was dead. It was ten times worse when you knew them.   
It was the most frustrating part of the job, knowing what was justice and not being able to do anything about it. He wasn't going to get anything done here so he gathered his stuff and went home.  
When he got there someone was waiting for him. Mulder opened the door and stopped in his tracks. A small point of orange light was in the middle of a silhouette of man. The man stepped into the light, not that Mulder needed to see his face, the cigarette was a dead giveaway.  
Mulder dropped his coat and reached for his gun. He had it aimed right between the eyes before the coat hit the ground. "Why did you kill Scully?" he demanded, barely able to get the words out.  
"Mr. Mulder you both had become a liability. You were getting to close to the truth. You had to be eliminated. You mustn't feel bad about it, you two lasted longer and got closer than anyone else. A game well played, Mr. Mulder."  
Mulder felt the still open door close silently behind him. He whirled around, bringing his gun level as he turned, and without bothering to aim, fired.  
***************************  
A.D. Skinner got out of his car slowly. The Bureau had been hit hard by the death of two agents in two days. The bullet that had killed Mulder had been fired out of the same gun that killed Scully. A man who was killed by a bullet from Mulder's gun had been found at D.C. hospital two days ago. Whoever it was that pulled the trigger was dead, but the real killers still got away.   
Skinner found himself at the top of the basement stairs. Mulder's door was ajar, the nameplate gone, like a memory no one wanted. As Skinner went down the stairs, he thought he heard a voice. Opening the door he found an unfamiliar agent on the phone with someone.  
She looked at up at him and wrapped up her conversation. "May I help you...?" She said politely, meaning she was new here, from her age, probably fresh out of Quantico.  
"A.D. Skinner. And you are?"  
"Agent Aurora Osborne, sir, we were told that we could take any empty office we found, unless this is already taken." Just who "we" was became evident when a man carrying a giant box came through the door.   
" Excuse Me." he said before dropping the box unceremoniously into a corner. He turned around and offered his hand. "Agent Max Linstrom." Skinner took it and introduced himself. "We were kind of suprised when we found this office down here." Max said, trying to make conversation.  
Samantha chuckled. "Yeah, I thought it was a storage room at first. There are so many files, and on such weird topics." She picked up a file that had been lying on the desk. " Like, Eddie Van Blunht, a shapeshifter? C'mon!"  
Skinner nodded."Well, welcome to the Bureau." 


End file.
